Libri Veteres Reventi

08/04/09

Libri Veteres Reventi

I must be the last person on the Internet to realize the value of Google Books. I found a copy of Anthon’s System of Latin Versification there last week, a book I had lost long ago (it was one of those photocopy re-issues–no big financial loss–but every so often I’d half-remember a piece of advice from it and wish I still had my old annotated copy)…

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One point I remembered quite well was Anthon’s advice on the composition of Alcaics (p. 224 ff.). Most of the rules come from a careful accentual review of Horace’s own verses (BTW if anyone knows more about these “Eton rules” he remarks in passing, please let me know; I know the British school used to have a Chancellor’s prize for Latin composition, but I know few of the details). In the third line, for example, the requirement that a primary accent fall only on the first or second syllable pretty much favors opening the verse with a trisyllable (single word or word unit like cum flore). Believe me, I’ve spent more than a few moments comparing the rules with Horatian verse, desperate for exceptions…